Accordion-door.



W, WERNER E J'. GUBRIVAN.

n AUGORDION DOOR. APPLICATION FILED QUT. 20, 191.1..

1,043,492. Patented Nov. 5, 1912.

a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I/ n I W. WERNER & J. CURRIVAN.

AolooRDIoN DooR. APPLICATION FILED 00T. 20, 1911.

1,043,492.- A Patented N0v.5,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

-\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ &\\\\\\/// Wf-WBRNEP J. GURRIVAN.

Acconmon Doon. APPLIOATION FILED OUT. 20, 1911:y

1,043,492." l Patented N0v.5,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

' Inventors:

WILLIAM WERNERAND JOHN CURRIVAN, 'OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ACGORDIO-DOOR.

Speciieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 5,1912.

Application filed October 20, 1911. Seriall No. 655,801.

To all whom il'. may concern.

Be 1t known that we, VILLTAM VERNER and JOI-1N CURnivAN, citizens of the United States, residing 'at Brooklyn, vin the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Accordion-Doors, of which the fol" tical section on the line 2 2 in Fig. lllooking in the direction of the arrows, said section being on an enlarged scale and the middle portion of the door being broken out and omitted for the sake ot compactness; Fig. 3 is a view of the same parts as in Fig. 2 except that the view is a side elevation partly in section looking a-t the right hand side of the devices in Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of portions ot the devices of Fig. 1 showing the doors in folded-up position and with the other operating parts correspondingly located.

We will now describe the devices of the drawings, reserving it to the claims to point,

out the novel features and to define the scope" of the invention, it being understood.

i hinged together at their edges 2a to fold up and extend like a screen and together constituting an accordion door. The first door or the one which is connected with the side of the doorway or otherr stationary7 member is a half door and is seen at the left in Fig. l. A

` Running lengthwise of both the top and bottom of the doorway are conduits or housings 2 and ln the bottom of the upper housing there are located a pair of spaced apart parallel tracks 4. These consist of bars bolted on edge to the depending arms 5'u1 of brackets or hangers, otn which there are a plurality secured by their bases 5h in spaced apart relation along the top of the' doorway. A pair of trolleys 6 run on the tracks and from them are `operatively supported the door-leaves by swivel connections 7 with the middle of thcvtop lof said leaves.

Each trolley consists of a cross shaped frame 6a located vertically between the hanger arms 51. 6l are a pair ot' studs projecting at right angles from one side ot' the frame at the ends ot the horizontal arm 01"" the cross, said studs rotatably supporting a pair of grooved trolley wheels S ruiming on the same track l. G is another stud projecting from the opposite side of the trolley frame in central location and rotatably supports a third trolley wheel running on the other track. The rcsut is that each trolley has the steadiness against wabbling and tilt- .ing of a four wheel support but secures greater compactness. Thus, from the plan View of Fig. 4, it will be seen thatl the two wheels of the one trolley are on the opposite side or track from 4the saine wheels of the adjacent trolley, with the result that said trolleysV are permitted to closely compact together withoutinterfering with the fold ing up ot the doors, which they would do if they had tour wheels as relatively large as those shown. The large wheels. of course,

have the advantage over the small lwheels of rollingmuch more easily.

Each swivel connection 7 consists of a 'stirrup 7a on the bottom of the given trolley frame 6a. Through the bottom ofsaid stirrup is a vertical hole. The stem of a headed pin 7* extends loosely down through. this holeand then is secured rigidly in any preferred manner in a socket 7? in the top of the door.

t3a designates lazy tongs which are connected to the door-leaves with the middle pivots of the tongs at the axes about which said individual leaves swivel in opening and closlng the accordion door. Thus, the mid- .dle pivots at the ends of the 4tongs consist in the drawings of the pins "7b already described by which the door-leaves are suspended from'the trolleys. Next, the middle pivot. intermediate the 4ends of the tongs consists of arpin 9 projecting vertically in central position from the top of the intermediateV door-leaf'. Of course, if there were more intermediate doorleaves, the lazy tongs would be increased by t-he same number` of units and the middle pivots of these units would consist of similar pins 9 on the door-leaves. It the increasein the number of leaves should require additional trolleys to support them, then the swivel pins 7b of i duit l be used inrely connect `hese additional trolleys woul teed oi the pins 9 it operetetclreep the floor-les s et :ill times evenly spncecl in prevent yinuning tracks.

rlhe bottom of each door-leef has e central stud 1G project-ing downward" through o .longitudinal slot in the top the floor conwtithin Ythe conduit these studs ro.- tetably support rollers ll which bear against the tical Wells of the conduit when the operation etterhfty to sway t'ansl-l CD eil@ il thout the lazy tongs, it is impossible to use e, irloor guide because there is nothing to keep the door-leaves vevenly spaced in opening4 sud closing enel they inevitably jam because they are confined hy guides both :shove :and below. ln other Twords, Without tl e lazy tongs the operation o opening and thedoord'eeres is so irregular and defective that it is impossible to conine or guide leaves et `nor than the top. On

other hand, a floor guide can be used eonoinl'ly With the lazy tongs, and thereby 'the .arret advantage is gained thattlie doors cannot sway. ln short, the lazy 'tongsand the floor guide Work .in combination because Without the lazy tongs the floor guide cannot he used; and conjoiutly with the floor guide,4 the lazy tongs pernii .thc doors to operate Without swaying. This prevention of swaying is an important advantage especially in schools Where the doors 'areused to divide up the large assembly rooms into class rooms, and Where the tendency is for the children to play with and swing the doors if they can.

rl`he mechanism for operating the accordion door is as follows: rlhe arms 5?* of the endinost hangers operatively supporta pair of sprocket Wheels l2 over Which runs :i chain ll located over the door-leaves when extende'l and loca'cel over-their trolley supports. Lillie upper end 6d of the trolley t ame ot one or more ol the trolleys projects up thri'iugh one of the links of the chain (Figs. l and B) and is the operating connection betweenthe chain and the door-leaves whereby the zi'rel of 'the lor' u: stretch ot lhe chain 'l in Fie r 'l ninj on the other track. the :uli liar ig Itheir wheels disposed lo lower er t ported in sulla.

"l ose v`@per :rire Aion e.; doors.

in t re support ol sind Aerrer stretches o f .i port laine :troni sa(han `thus des( ilcys running' on overhead i." opcraizirely sar i l there beure` on the other side with ir single that the single irheel o? one tro l saine track as the double wheel the f jacent trolley.

Q. In combination with trolleys running on orerlrsd lli eretiroly supporting the leeresid dori: there being" tiro of said trzulis in parallel so Lend each trolley having :i least uro wheels s one on euch track but with their centers on'.

or' opposition so that one wheel ahead olf the other, thereb)v adapting' adjiirenll lrolh` ..3 to compactclosely together when ihe doors fold up.

In combinationA with :i tlold-.flile door structure, e. parir of spaced sul'iportinf; rm relatirely in orablc trolleys n'iounteo on 'me tracks and having` the door structure secured thereto, each of seid trolleys comprising 1i frame. and wheels journzsled on the lrame und running on the lraclrs, there being :i greater nuniher of wheels on one iravli than on the other, and the eorrospliwlino' Wheels ofthe adjacent trolleys oi dillereul' lraclis lo permii the sail more into commu oreihiiibin f 'i 'moi f lOl) ld ii seis ol lio 'zilingl' on volley,h lo 

